September 16, 2026 | Springfield, IL: The WPBL’s Inaugural Championship Series matchup is a California dream come true. SoCal vs NorCal in a “Fall Classic” rivalry that began before the autumn leaves told us that the season was upon us.
Tonight, the Queens and Firebells, two teams representing cities rich in baseball history, gave us the thrills and chills of what we’ve come to expect in this insanely talented, entertaining league.
To kick off the monumental festivities, Megan Cavanagh, Marla Hooch in A League of Their Own, gave a moving game introduction before throwing out the ceremonial first pitch.
A noteworthy story featured LA manager Eric Young Sr. being forced to alter his starting lineup after Samaria Benítez left the semi-final clincher with a season-ending Achilles injury and an 11-game hitting streak.
Luckily for Young, he had Ayuri Shimano in his lead-off and second base back pocket. Fresh off her grand slam heroics against NY, the late addition to the league was 2-5 with an RBI to go along with her flashes of elite LA leather.
The Queens struck first with fundamental baseball: a base hit, a stolen bag, an advantageous wild pitch and an RBI base hit from Mo’ne Davis, the former Little League phenom who was 2-4 with a run scored.
Amanda Gianelloni got a hold of a Hondras pitch in the bottom of the second that cleared the loaded bases – but Jamie, who put the K in Mackay tonight, relieved the 18-year-old and remained for 5.2 innings, keeping Kelsie Whitmore quiet, and Skylar Kaplan to an insignificant single – putting away the final nine batters she faced – striking out the side in the sixth, while going 2-3 at the plate.
LA chipped away at Whitmore in the third, fourth and fifth, closing the gap to just one run. Ashton Lansdell was reliably hot at the hot corner, snagging a low line drive rocket from her captain counterpart, and equally effective in the box, sparking the Queens comeback with a leadoff single and a beauty of an RBI double down the left field line.
On a solemn note, in the top of the sixth, after Davis led off with a double, San Francisco reliever Rosi del Castillo was injured chasing down Shimano’s sac bunt and was driven off the field, 48 hours after LA’s Samaria Benítez suffered a similar fate.
Liz Gilder took the bump for the Firebells and was tagged for Lansdell’s tying run and the go-ahead/stay-ahead run, courtesy of Caitlin Eynon’s sac fly to right center. Eynon was Player of the Game – 3-3 with 2 RBI’s. And Mackay gave her a run for the postgame interview money with her inspired dual performance.